Music

Jim Morrison Says ‘Fat Is Beautiful’ In Lost Interview From 1969

Related Tags:

In a lost interview conducted by Howard Smith in 1969, Jim Morrison revealed that he, like many other collegians, put on a lot of pounds and ponders why society has an obsession with being overweight.

“I remember when I used to weigh 185 pounds… I was the same height that I am now and I weighed 185 pounds and I was going to college.” says Morrison, who doesn’t specify whether it was during his time at St. Petersburg College, Florida State University or UCLA. Morrison explains how he never missed a meal: breakfast, lunch or dinner; and the weight gain was brought on by the starch heavy food like mashed potatoes. “If you missed your meal you just, you know… I just figured: ‘Well I was getting screwed, right?’ If I missed a meal I blew it.”

Three months later, his weight shot up to 185 lbs. But he actually preferred himself that way.

“I felt so great. I felt like a tank, you know… When I’d move through the corridors or across the lawn, I just feel like I could knock anybody out of my way, you know,” says Morrison, following that with a criticism of being skinny. “It’s terrible to be thin and wispy, because, you know, you could get knocked over by a strong wind or something.”

“Fat is beautiful,” proclaimed The Doors leading man who, at the time of the interview, admits his weight was currently around 150 lbs.

Smith’s interview with Morrison has also been animated, thanks to a new PBS web series called Blank On Blank.

The Blank On Blank series, also available on YouTube, includes interviews from Bono, Muhammad Ali, Larry King and others. Each interview runs just several minutes, but details a unique, unheard story from the interviewee.